Stagnation
by The Scratch Man
Summary: Life moves on, but for Julian, the past does not seem content with staying in the past. No, it insists on coming back to bite him in the ass. Sequel to "Going, Going, Gone" and "Soul Seeks Soul".
1. Chapter 1

Julian Keller at twenty-four chews peppermint gum like a maniac.

It's a trick –a coping mechanism –in a third attempt to kick smoking for good. He's had several telepaths offer to help him quit but no, he says; he's gotta do this the hard way.

As it is, the gum chewing has its downsides.

"Will you stop?" Cessily hisses through the comm link.

Julian is pressed into a dark corner of the hall of an underground bunker. "Sorry," he says, making conscious effort to silence the squelching of gum and teeth.

"Target C is in position," Laura mutters. "I'm moving in; hold positions."

There's the muffled sound of her knocking someone out, and then Laura says, "Proceeding downstairs. Mercury, take the vents and scout the lower floors; Cuckoos, broadcast room, prepare Pixie and Rockslide for teleportation,"

Julian listens to these instructions and hears the affirmatives of the other team members.

From Greymalkin, one of the Cuckoos acts as their mouthpiece through Cerebro; "Pixie and Rockslide are on standby," she declares, "Waiting for further command."

There's a brief silence on the comms and Julian remains where he is, chewing gum silently and waiting, unmoving –hoping…

Laura has a certain habit of not swearing –it's something about not believing in having to say more than necessary –but she still sounds pissed when she says, "Pixie: teleport to Hellion's location," at around the same time an alarm begins to go off and shouting can be heard in the distance.

A flash of magenta signals Megan and Santo's arrival and Julian steps out of the shadows to greet them just as a squadron of the latest threat of uniformed goons march around the corner, guns blazing.

Julian shields them from the first rounds of gunfire, blocking the hall entirely to prevent the soldiers from advancing. Some of them fall from their own ricocheting bullets.

Megan teleports herself and Santo to the other side of the shield, appearing behind the small army to surprise them with a counter attack. While Santo smashes through the forces with a swing of his granite arms, Megan teleports back to the safety behind Julian's telekinetic shields.

With the soldiers distracted by Santo, Julian lets his shields and instead focuses on grasping every automatic weapon in the room and yanking them out of the hands of the enemy.

Pixie then sends out a wave of pink dust that blows toward the men and has them collapsing with dopey smiles on their faces.

Santo alone remains standing, blinking in mild confusion. "Cool," he decides. He steps over a body and joins Megan and Julian. "Anyone else around here?"

"That should be initial back-up," Julian says, shaking his head, "Their manpower will be spread out, so we shouldn't be expecting anyone else unless they figure out ahead of time that we've taken out the guys over here." He turns on his comm link to tell Laura, "West wing threat neutralized; proceeding downward."

Laura makes a noise of acknowledgement. There's shouting in the background of her line and Cessily is shouting things like, "Three men approaching from your seven, X! Five coming around the corner!"

Julian turns down the comms and says, "Alright, let's go."

The facility they've infiltrated is a one of the many distant branches of the F.O.H that have been cropping up across the world lately. In conjunction with S.H.I.E.L.D and the Avengers, the X-Men have been sending teams out to deal with certain facilities. This is the third facility Laura's team has been assigned to within the year, and while they haven't found much in the facilities besides signs that the FOH are arming themselves and setting up labs for unknown purposes, S.H.I.E.L.D has been increasingly insistent that the facilities be found and crushed.

The standing theory (or at least the one with the most bets in the X-Men's pool) is that the F.O.H has gotten their hands on S.H.I.E.L.D data in some way and is planning a large event of nefarious nature in the future.

Julian leads Megan and Santo down the halls, guided by the patchwork blueprint the Cuckoos have broadcasted to everyone based on the various team members' exploration of the facility, and though Santo's footfalls are thunderous, no one comes running.

"X-23," Julian says, "Can we get an update on the situation here?"

"An equipped lab has been found on sublevel three," she says, "It appears empty. There are only guards here. Unloaded boxes in the labs indicate the arrival of scientists is expected but has not yet occurred."

"There's nothing here?" Megan says from behind Julian.

"We can still press them with illegal arms possession and intention for mutant exploitation," Cessily says over the comms, "Some of these boxes have some pretty nasty files –uh, hold on, I've got something that'll get up for good."

"Pixie, join us in the labs, we need to get these boxes to evidence," Laura's disembodied voice says, "Cuckoos, organize a sting operation with S.H.I.E.L.D to apprehend the scientists are supposed to arrive. If we keep this operation out of the press for a few more days, we'll have them with no complications."

Megan teleports Julian and Santo down to where Cessily and Laura are standing in the middle of yet another generic empty laboratory. There are a couple of men strewn across the floor, some moving feebly, but most out cold.

"Pixie," Laura says from where she and Cessily are moving metal and wooden crates into the middle of the room so that they can be teleported away later, "Take Rockslide to the north entrance; make sure no one manages to escape before we can get reinforcements to round them all up. Let's finish this operation neatly."

* * *

><p>Julian's got nineteen missed calls on his answering machine (because he has a very strong belief in landlines) when the team returns from the sting operation four days later.<p>

It's five-fifteen in the afternoon and he's exhausted, but Julian goes to the cupboard, picks out a stick of gum from a tin in the corner, and then crosses over to the living room to take a seat on the couch.

The first message on the machine is innocuous enough: a message from the Xavier Homeless Youth street program reminding Julian that he's promised to volunteer for an upcoming event. The second message from Eliza is a reminder that they're supposed to have dinner on Thursday with her parents.

Julian groans and cringes as the next message is her wondering where the hell he _is_.

It goes on; Eliza's messages become increasing urgent, then disappointed and outraged ("I called the headquarters and _Victor_ said you'd gone on a mission in Texas –in goddamn _Texas_, Julian? And you know you're really unlucky Victor can't lie for shit, because it wasn't even an emergency and what, you forgot you had a girlfriend? Who would actually be _worried_ if you fell out of contact? Christ, Julian, I know you've got this X-Men thing, but you said it wasn't going to be your entire life…").

Finally, it turns to resigned; "Just… call me whenever you get back, okay?" the last message says, "We can meet up and talk."

"_Fuck_," Julian groans, scrubbing a hand over his face. He stares at the ceiling, contemplating this predicament, before calling Eliza. It goes about as well as he could hope:

"Julian," Eliza says stonily.

"Jesus, Eliza, I don't know what I was thinking"

"-well, you can say that again. My parents think you're total shit now. I mean, seriously, Julian –they were already on the edge with you being an X-Man"

"—I'll make it up to you, I swear," Julian says, "Look, I just got back –can we meet?"

Eliza sighs heavily. "Sure. Starbucks where we met. Fifteen minutes." She hangs up.

"Shit," Julian mutters. He hauls himself off the sofa and takes a quick shower before flying over traffic to the Starbucks in question.

Even so, when Julian gets into the café, Eliza is already there.

"Hey," he says, a little out of breath as he slides into the chair across from her.

"Hey,"

Eliza looks away, down at her coffee. Her dark curls are messy today, framing her face, which appears hidden behind the thick black frames of her glasses.

Staring at her now, Julian remembers the day he first saw her, standing in line with her hair braided and piled on top of her head in a bun, a colorful cloth tied around her head. She'd been wearing loose, billowy pants and black short-sleeve shirt that had exposed the smooth, dark skin of her abdomen.

They'd stood next to each other while waiting for their orders and Eliza had said out of nowhere, "Ask me my number."

"What?" Julian had said, startled.

"You're staring, so you might as well ask. I've got Friday night free."

Julian grinned. "What's your name?"

"Eliza," she said.

"Julian,"

They shook hands and Julian had cackled at the astonished look on Eliza's face when he let his gauntlet go and she thought she'd pulled off his prosthetic.

They went to dinner that Friday, and the Sunday after.

That was years ago.

Now, Eliza sighs. "Julian," she says slowly, "You know I…. worry about you."

"M'sorry,"

Eliza shakes her head. "I know you are, hon," she says. "But, I haven't _seen_ much you lately."

"I… there's this operation," Julian tries to explain, "It's going to take a while."

"Here's there the thing," Eliza says after another silence, "We've been dating for two years…"

"And three months,"

Eliza smiles a little, but it's subdued. "I just –Julian. I gotta know how invested you are …in us."

He frowns. "What do you mean? 'Course I'm invested. We're dating."

"I asked you to move in with me seven months ago and you said you'd have to _think _about it. Then you said you liked your _space_"

"-You like your space, too," Julian protests, "I thought we were better that way"

"-Julian," Eliza says flatly, "You have commitment issues."

He gapes. "I do _not_"

"-Honey, yes you do," she says, "You're distracted and I wonder if this isn't about –about …him."

Julian clenches his jaw. "Eliza," he says stiffly.

"Seriously, Julian,"

He reaches out, to take her hand on the table and says firmly, "Eliza, I'm with you and I like you. A lot."

"But do you _love_ me, Julian? Do you?" she asks, pulling her hand away from Julian's. "Am I wasting my time, trying to make this work?"

"What's that supposed tomean?" Julian demands, feeling something akin to a stone (or perhaps his heart) drop into his stomach.

Eliza bites her lower lip for a moment. "We're falling apart," she says finally, "And… I think we need to take a break."

"A break." Julian repeats, shocked, "We're… breaking up?"

"It's for the best," Eliza insists, standing. "I'll call you later, okay? Julian?"

Julian takes a moment to respond. "Alright," he says quietly.

"Take care of yourself," Eliza says.

He doesn't watch her go, just stares at the table in front of him until he's sure she's gone.

* * *

><p>Santo looks surprised when Julian sits down next to him on the couch in the Staff Room, which is probably a statement on what a shitty friend Julian has been since high school.<p>

Even though most of the X-Men aren't teachers at Jean Grey's School beyond the occasional leading of training room sessions, they still invade the Staff Room as their new Recreation Room away from the younger students.

"Where's Victor?" Julian wonders.

Santo shrugs. "On a date or something. He's a total douche."

"Vic or his date?" Julian says.

"Both of 'em." Santo grumbles. He looked over at Julian, squinting a little, "What's up with you?"

"What?" Julian scowls.

"Well, you're here." Santo says, "And no offense, dude, but you're usually off doing –fuck, man don't blow bubbles in my face,"

Julian snaps the gum back into his mouth with a shrug. "Eliza broke up with me," he says casually.

Santo lets out a guffaw, "She dumped your sorry ass?" he booms, slapping his knee with a force that makes the couch shake a little.

"Laugh it up," Julian mumbles.

Santo's laughs subside. "For real, dude, that sucks."

Julian shrugs. "I'll… get over it. I have to, I guess."

"Yeah."

They fall into silence and Julian takes a closer look at what's playing on the television. "Is this Project Runway?"

"Yeah," Santo says unashamedly.

"Cool."

They fall quiet once more.

"_Make it work_," Tim Gunn says.

* * *

><p>Julian buys a pack of Camels on his way back into the city and puts them on the kitchen counter when he enters his apartment. He's been living here for almost three years and it's never felt more lonely. He lights a cigarette (with a match; he doesn't have lighters around anymore) and goes to the answering machine, but there are no messages waiting, so he sits silently on the couch, chewing slowly on hours-old peppermint gum and letting cigarette ash drop into the carpet under the glove that's holding it.<p>

The skies grow dark outside the windows and the room falls to shadows.

Julian doesn't move.

* * *

><p>The Xavier Homeless Youth street program holds an event in mid-November to connect with street kids in need of shelter for the winter.<p>

Julian talks with a couple of displaced teenagers –ones he recognizes –who are looking for a new shelter after feeling too uncomfortable in their old one.

These kids are all guarded and weary of the world and they range from ages thirteen to nineteen. The bulk o the kids are sixteen, and have either run away from home or have been kicked out. They don't want to go into any foster care programs, and are wary with the X-Men and other volunteers initially, not giving out names and looking around with suspicious eyes and defensive stances, ready to run if they feel things are going south.

Some of the kids Julian talks to are recently eighteen and are trying to get their feet on the ground and build something for themselves. For these people, the street program offers help finding jobs or getting scholarships to enroll in community colleges or simply to finish high school online.

There's one kid –a pasty, skinny boy in an oversized hoodie –who lingers on the edges of the room in the Stark Civic Center where the event is being held, and is dragged over to where Julian is momentarily unoccupied by a tall Latino teenager wearing a parka. She looks Julian up and down and then blurts out, "Is there a thing for, like, addicts?"

Julian flies a pamphlet from a table across the room. "There's a couple of programs to help treat various addictions. There's a popular rehabilitation program…"

"Do we gotta pay?" the girl says, "We ain't got a lot o' money"

Julian nods, "Well, the program includes three stages. There's detox and then behavioral rehabilitation. The third stage is about giving back to the community. For those who need financial help, this stage is what helps cover the cost of the program." He pauses, then adds, "We get a lot of donations to the program, too. People want you guys to get better."

The girl gives a pointed look to the boy, who looks jumpy and… in stages of substance withdrawal. They turn away from Julian to argue in whispers.

"If you want, I can take you to meet some of the program's directors who are here today," Julian offers, "You can get started right away,"

"Yeah?" The boy speaks up in challenging tones, "You know anyone who's done this thing? How do we know y'all ain't just gonna screw us over –make us some sorta slaves of the system?"

Julian looks him over, this guy who looks both old and impossibly young. He can't be over eighteen. "You've already screwed yourself over," he says, crossing his arms, "What harm can a little help do?"

"See?" the girl mutters to the boy, "Jorge, c'mon. Please." she turns to Julian, casting an earnest gaze upon him. "Where do we go?" she asks.

Julian smiles a little and sends them in the right direction.

"How's it going?" Cessily says when they find themselves taking a short water break at a table in the corner.

Julian shrugs. "There's a pretty good turn out," he says.

Cessily nods. "The kids from last year spread the words," she says, "And we've got one or two journalists here today, but Kitty's got 'em on a leash so they don't scare everyone away."

Julian throws back the water in the small paper cup he's filled. "What time are you taking lunch?"

"Half an hour," Cessily replies. "Hey, Victor was looking a little swamped earlier. Xi'an left a couple of minutes ago and Jean-Paul won't be here till after lunch. You wanna go help him?"

Julian glances over to Victor's corner, where he Victor does, indeed, look a little weary. He's teamed up with Santo to speak with LGBT*QIA youth, but it looks like Santo is only being about as helpful as Santo can manage to be and there's more kids lingering in Victor's corner than two people (or perhaps, just one, considering Santo is only entertaining people by crumbling and rebuilding himself every couple of minutes) can handle. "Sure," Julian says, "Why not?"

He goes over to Victor under the pretense of wheedling some chewing gum out of him, which is a good move, because Victor doesn't feel insulted that Julian has come over and has lingered to help out, and Julian gets a stick of Trident.

"Everyone, this is Julian, aka Hellion," Victor says to the group, "You can begin directing some of your questions toward him… We're just talking about the support groups and stuff," he adds to Julian.

Julian turns to the kids, the closest of which is a gangly girl with faded blue-dyed hair and two eyebrow rings. She looks at him suspiciously and then says quizzically, "Who are you supposed to be?"

"Julian," he says.

"What's wrong with your hands?" she says.

"I don't have any," Julian responds flatly, holding up his gauntlets pointedly.

"For how long?"

"Not very concerned with manners, huh?" Julian says, narrowing his eyes.

She shrugs. "Not interested in subtlety. What's it, then? Or will I have to imagine a creative backstory for you?"

"Six." Julian says.

"What?"

"It's been about six years," Julian says, "Would you like a pamphlet, maybe?"

The girl eyes him with equally narrowed eyes. "Already have one, thanks."

Julian nods. "Alright. Do you have any other questions that you haven't found answers to in the pamphlets?" he says, using the sort of voice that he hasn't used in years –the one that's pleasant and polite but leaves the person being addressed feeling like maybe they've been insulted somehow.

"No, I'm good. 'Cept, maybe… do you wanna go out sometime?"

Julian stares.

She stares back, unnerved, but eventually adding, "I mean, unless you're totally gay. Then forget I asked."

"Uh," Julian says, "No, it's just… had a break-up recently. Not looking for a relationship right now."

"That's cool," she shrugs, "I'm Sarah, by the way."

"Julian," he says.

"You got any more gum?"

"Not on me right now" –Julian is thankfully distracted from this increasingly strange conversation by Megan, who is approaching the group, much to the delight of the teenagers gathered.

"Yo, Julian," she says after humoring the group at large with a wave, "Logan's called to say S.H.I.E.L.D's requesting you,"

"For a mission?" Sarah interjects interestedly.

Megan offers her a conspiratorial grin "Maybe," she says, waggling her eyebrows.

"They want _me_?" Julian says in surprise.

"Looks like," Megan says, cheerfully taking his arm and shouting, "See you all later –fantastic work, Vic –_Sihal novarum chinoth_," before another word can be said.

They appear in front of the building's doors in the midday light of Manhattan.

Julian blinks a little, disoriented by the sudden natural light, and Megan shoves him toward the doors. "Go on," she says.

"You couldn't have gone an extra inch?"

Megan throws her head back and laughs, "The first and only time I did that, I almost got shot and then some scary guys yelled at me for a while." she says, "When they're done with you, page me, yeah?"

Julian nods. He spits his chewing gum in a trash bin on the way in through the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarter building doors, which are ridiculously tall and tinted and also probably missile-proof.

Inside, the lobby looks like that of any office building; men and women in business attire cross the linoleum floor at varying speeds, some alone, and some in massive groups. There's a desk across from the doors that looks reasonably official, and since Julian's never been inside the building, he heads toward it, clearing his throat loudly before he even makes it.

The receptionist glances up at him, then down at something behind the desk. "Hellion, aka Julian Keller," he says, "Agent Wang of the Department of Mutant Affairs will meet you on the seventh floor. The elevator will open for you. Have a nice day."

Julian stares at him for a moment before he fully comprehends what's been said. "Uh, thanks," he says, heading past the desk.

He ends up in an elevator crowded with about a dozen other full grown adults. When the elevator reaches the seventh floor, Julian has to fight his way to the front of the group to get out, and almost leaves a gauntlet behind as the elevator doors start to close.

A petite woman is waiting in front of the elevator, clearly Agent Wang.

Julian raises his eyebrows but doesn't comment on the titles, "What do you want from me?" he says.

"We're working on a case," Wang says, "That we could use your help with. If you'll come with me?"

Julian follows her down the main hall and then down a side hall and into a large conference room. A conference room that happens to be occupied by four very official looking agents.

They all turn to stare at Julian when he and Wang walk in and Julian is acutely aware that he's wearing a navy blue shirt with gold print that says 'XAVIER S. FTW'.

"Anyone gonna tell me what this is about?" Julian says stiffly, crossing his arms over the words.

A man at the head of the table opens a folder sitting on the table in front of him. "Julian Keller, age twenty-four, alpha-level telekinetic, team co-leader of X-Men roster Codename Young X-Men," he says.

"I know." Julian responds tersely. He glances at Wang. "You said you needed to me for something? I can't imagine what I could know that S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn't. You're, like, the C.I.A on steroids."

"Mr. Keller –hello. My name is Agent Higgs," The man at the head of the table says loudly to change the direction of the conversation. "Now, you were arrested four years ago in Chicago as a suspect in the Darren Jurney case. At the time, you were living with Joshua Foley, alias Elixir, an Omega-level healer."

"What's this about?" Julian snaps, taking one step back without thinking about it.

A screen behind the table turns on and an old New Mutants group photo appears.

"Foley was recorded to have been able to exert precise power over human biology; he could regrow limbs and cure the Legacy Virus. Would you say that he was targeted for his powers?"

Julian stares at the man with narrowed eyes. "Oh sure," he says bitingly, "I mean, there was a particular psycho who was inspired to kill a couple of people over him. _What the fuck_?"

Higgs puts up his hands in a placating gesture. "Allow me to continue," he says, "Earlier the same year, you two were involved in an incident with four members of a self-proclaimed chapter of the Friends of Humanity. Three men were originally killed by you in self-defense and a fourth was neutralized by Codename X-23."

"Is there a _point_ to all of this?" Julian demands.

"Jeremiah Sanders, one of the men that was killed that day, was the younger brother of Gideon Sanders, a research scientist whom we believe is working for the Friends of Humanity in developing some sort of bioweapon." Higgs says.

One of his colleagues speaks up then; "We believe that, although you were tracking down these men at the time, they were following something else."

"Those idiots didn't have the ambition for whatever you think it is they were trying to do." Julian snorts.

"I agree," the second agent says, "However, S.H.I.E.L.D believes that Gideon Sanders is leading a project to use mutant genes to create a bioweapon, and that his brother's group were the ones tasked with obtaining the genes. They may have been targeting Elixir for their project."

Julian purses his lips.

There is silence while the S.H.I.E.L.D agents stare at him, waiting for something, and he closes his eyes, blocking them all out for a moment.

When he finally speaks, his voice is a harsh whisper. "And why," he says, "Does this matter _now_?" He opens his eyes, expression hard. "Considering that he. Is fucking. _Dead_."

"S.H.I.E.L.D would like to formally request your team's assistance as a strike team for"

"-you're asking ahead of time? And you're asking _me_? Co-leader is a _title_." Julian laughs. "You should be talking to X-23 and you know it. What the hell are you playing at?"

"Mr. Keller," Higgs says, "We're telling you this now because we need your cooperation when the time comes"

"-thought you said you need our help." Julian says, raising his eyebrows. "Gonna need you to make up your mind."

"There is going to be a certain aspect of this particular case," Higgs says, "That is going to require mutant expertise."

"_Your_ expertise," Wang says from Julian's side. "I suggest you sit down, Julian,"

He eyes the open seat at the table in front of him and casts a final glare at everyone assembled at the table before he sinks into the chair.

Higgs clears his throat. "We believe that the F.O.H may have targeted Elixir to use his X-Gene for a bioweapon, but as of late, we have reason that they _were_ targeting him and that they succeeded somehow in…" He clears his throat again, glancing at the files in front of him before looking Julian in the eye and saying, "We had Joshua Foley's grave at Jean Grey School for Higher Learning exhumed earlier this week. The body in the coffin does not appear to be his."


	2. Chapter 2

Notes:

78934- Julian

23746- Sooraya

79934- Victor

24746- Cessily

88935- Laura

54678- Noriko

99934- Santo

94367- Megan

You'll understand later.

* * *

><p><em>Systems online<em>

_ Run: Procedure_startUp_

_ ProcedureError: File "routinecheck#3060", query "Help me" is not defined_

_ Procedure_startUp: restart? Y/N_

_ Error: undefined query_

_ Error: query "Is anybody there" is not defined_

Agent I.D F889hV says, "Shit, the A.I's all fucked up,"

_Run: Procedure_startUp_

Agent I.D F892sL: "What d'you mean it's 'fucked up'?"

F889hV: "There's a malfunction in… hold on,"

F892sL: "Hey, what's that line right there mean?"

F889hV: "Looks like the bio-hardware is malfunctioning."

F892sL: "What, like the –you mean the techno?"

_ ProcedureError: File "routinecheck#3060", query "Please please somebody help" is not defined_

_Procedure_startU cannot be completed._

_ Virus not detected. _

_ Procedure_startUp: restart? Y/N_

Agent I.D F883hV: "What the _hell_ is going on over here, Doctor?"

F892sL: "The techno…"

F889hV: "It's not the goddamn techno –the techno's fully integrated in the system, Christ's sake. Something's causing an error in one of the tank diagnostic routines."

F883hV: "The diagnostic routines?"

F889hV: "Yeah, looks like the malfunction is originating from… Tank Fifteen."

F892sL: "Hold on now, that's –that's the"

F889hV: "Jesus, Rod, we fucking know who's in Tank Fifteen. Get Mallory over to reboot the machine. Fucker probably metabolized its injections again."

_ Running Diagnostic for tank(15): life form I.D 003E92_

_ Procedure_bodyHealth: stable_

_ Procedure_tankStability: SyntaxError: _

_ File "malfunctionanalysis#1", line 57, CAn YOU HeAR MEEEE is not defined_

_ File "malfunctionanalysis#1", line 59, GET ME OUT OF HERE is not defined_

_ Program Restart? Y/NNNNNN_

_ SynttxxErrrrrrrr_MAlFunctION ##### query "HELP ME" is not defined_

_ ERR_

_ Runnn?_

_ ? query """""" _

_ SynEr query "pleasepleasepleASE" is not is not deeee_

_ File "malfunctionanalysis#1" is shutting down._

* * *

><p>Agent Wang races through the corridor, tightly clutching her S.H.I.E.L.D-issued StarkPad to her chest.<p>

She reaches the meeting room, gasping for breath and says to a room of puzzled colleagues, "We've found it."

* * *

><p>The Young X-Men file into the blackbird only to find that it is already occupied.<p>

"What the fuck?" Santo say loudly.

Sooraya offers a short wave and Noriko says, "Heard what was going down. We didn't want to miss it."

"Well isn't this just a cozy little reunion," Julian mutters, slinking toward the furthest seat in the back of the cabin and strapping himself into a single seat on the left side of the aisle. He's quiet as they take off and it's not like anyone's eager to bother him. In fact, he's pretty sure they're waiting for some sort of display of emotion from him due to the _nature of the mission_.

Well, they're not gonna get one.

It's been four years and Julian's composed as fuck. He's moved on, dated other people, done just the right amount of grieving that X-Men are expected to do when a teammate kicks the bucket –and yeah, after the funeral at Jean Grey's, Julian had caved; he moved from Chicago to New York City before the month. He got his GED online and even though he'd taken college courses online and gotten the degree in business everyone had always expected him to get, Julian had returned to join the X-Men and had turned to helping manage various X-Corp non-profit organizations across the country.

So Julian is not going to have some sort of emotional break, thankyouverymuch. Sure, he's nervous about this –was angry, when everything was first explained –and there's a faint ache in his chest when he thinks about _why_ this mission is happening. All these years, he'd been somewhat comforted to think Josh was buried in the memorial garden –right next to Laurie and Brian and Jay and everyone else. To learn that there had been some _other_ dead guy's body in the coffin all that time… it was like a slap in the face of every X-Man who'd ever lost someone.

Laura and Cessily are at the front of the blackbird now, preparing for lift-off, and the others have situated themselves into their seats and are either sitting silently are murmuring softly.

Flights on the blackbird have never been noisy affairs, simply because the space of the cabin makes talking seem like a chore, but today the atmosphere is particularly tense.

When Agent Wang had approached the New X-Men for the mission, she had driven out to Westchester in an armored S.H.I.E.L.D car just for the debriefing, which had taken less than twenty minutes.

S.H.I.E.L.D had located an underground bunker out in New Mexico that they suspected to be an F.O.H facility, which was highly unusual, considering many of their headquarters were above ground and _extremely_ conspicuous.

Under the Act 24e of the Anti-Mutant Hate Laws passed in 2007, the New X-Men are being deployed now to shut down the facility's operations, whatever they may be.

The flight across the country takes the blackbird two and a half hours. That's the thing no one ever mentions about the hero work; that there's a whole lot of waiting around and travel. The fights themselves don't generally take that long.

Megan drops them off over a small ghost town in New Mexico, flying the 'bird away to find a decent place to land.

The group looks around the desert town, dusty and abandoned. According to the S.H.I.E.L.D debriefing, the town was evacuated two years earlier due to some sort of –of infestation. It was all bullshit, and the developers who'd bought out the town afterward hadn't touched anything –not on the surface, anyway.

Santo kicks at the dirt and grovel underfoot, shifting uncomfortably. "Something ain't right about the ground," he grumbles.

"What," Victor says, "Like, there's something in it?"

"Yeah," Santo says, "Or somethin',"

"Let's spread out," Noriko says. "S.H.I.E.L.D reports that the bunker's got at least two entrances in town –look for places where there's not much dust,"

"-stay on your guard," Laura adds, catching Noriko's eye.

Noriko gives a silent nod and everyone disperses, either moving on their own or heading out with a partner. Everyone more or less knows how they like to work when no instructions for pairing off have been given, and for Julian, that means going on his own.

He floats up into the air, keep low over the building rooftops to avoid detection if anyone's looking.

There's a distinct layer of dust over every surface in the first building Julian peeks into, and he stands in the doorway of the abandoned pub feeling for a disturbance in the potential and kinetic energy around him.

There's nothing, so he moves on, keeping along the edges of the streets. He's poking around an abandoned furniture store when he hears shouting and gunfire.

Years of experience has told him that the best option is not to just rush in; Julian exits the building swiftly, but flies up to the room and peers down over the town. There's another round of _put-put_ing of automatic gunfire and it's coming from no more than a block away, so Julian takes to the air and pulls himself toward the sound, careful to remain out of sight from anyway on the streets.

Julian hears a thunder-like roar and the ground trembles; he knows that must be Santo. Christ.

There's a sniper on the rooftop ahead of Julian that he manages to sneak up on. A telekinetic sleeper hold puts the sniper out of action and Julian takes the man's rifle before surround himself in telekinetic shields that tint the world around him green.

He launches himself off the roof and lands in the middle of a battlefield.

Soldiers in the same black uniforms as in the other facilities are swarming out of two buildings along the street, armed and ready to fight. Most of them are distracted by Rockslide, who has built himself up into a giant creature of desert sand and rock, and though Dust is nowhere to be seen, none of the soldiers are getting buffeted to death, so she must not be in the vicinity.

Pixie and Anole are also nowhere in sight, but Mercury, X-23, and Surge are fighting off a wave of soldiers.

Julian bypasses the fight, dodging in between shouting F.O.H goons and taking some out here and there. He makes his way out of sight, running around to slip into the alley between two buildings.

A man who makes the mistake of following Julian gets slammed bodily into the brick wall of one of the buildings. His head snaps back and hits the wall with a hard _crack_ and Julian never even breaks a sweat.

His focus is nearly singular at this point. Julian's still holding the rifle, but he lets his shields slip; it's easier to detect nearby movement without a wall muffling the sensation of movements around him.

Julian rounds the building to find the back hilariously unguarded. Maybe it's because there are no doors, but even the windows aren't boarded over, so Julian opens one with ease and slips into the building.

He arrives in something like a backroom that's been left forgotten. It's covered in dust and cobwebs, and Julian is careful to remain hovering above ground and grime. He briefly tunes into the comms to whisper, "I'm inside, proceeding to facility entrance," before opening the door of the room a little and peering outside.

A couple of soldiers are still rushing out to join the fight, passing by Julian's door and down a hall toward the front entrance of the building, but after waiting for a couple of tense seconds, the coast appears clear, and so Julian creeps out into the open, hovering in the air and avoiding any creaking floorboards.

He can hear voices, both outside and somewhere else in the building. There's movement on the second floor, mostly likely snipers going to the room, but Julian ignores all of this in favor of locating the doorway to the underground bunker.

There's a breeze behind Julian and he whirls around in time to see Dust manifest behind him, smoothing down and adjusting her abaya and niqab.

"Hellion," she greets him, "I've located the entrance to the bunker. There are two men guarding the way, but I saw no one else in the immediate vicinity."

"I'll get them," Julian says, "Lead the way."

* * *

><p><em> Unknown biosignatures detected.<em>

_ Initializing dataBaseSearch._

_ Running dataBaseSearch._

_ Match not found._

_ No threat assessments available._

_ Try again? Y/N_

_ Assigning biosignatures I.D 78934, 23746_

_ Running Audio_Record_

_ Archiving * Security_Feed_

I.D 78934 and I.D 23746 moved down Corridor1 and left en route to Chamber3.

_Chamber_3: authorized access only_

_ access = Enter Access Code _

_ Error: Incorr-_

_ KTKTKT_

_ Initializing external damage assessment: 97%: Irreparable damage_

_ Door_3B Unlocked_

_ Running alarmProcedure_

_ File Error "no"_

_ File Error"please don't call them back please please"_

_ Running MalwareDiagnosis_

_ Malfunction unresolved. Run again? Y/N_

I.D 78934 and I.D 23746 enter Chamber3.

I.D 23746: "Oh, Allah save us…"

I.D78934: "Fuck."

There is silence.

I.D 23746: "Do you think …?"

I.D 78934: "N-No… No, look at them, they're –it's like they. Oh –Soor –Dust, the bioweapon; that's what they're doing to them."

I.D 23746: "Notify X-23. We need to locate the main laboratory. They'll have …they'll have him there."

I.D 78934: "He's not alive, Dust."

I.D 78934 and I.D 23746 exit Chamber3 and enter Chamber5.

_ Running threat assessment—_

_ NO_

_ query NO is not defined._

_ audio run system speaker run system speaker please please_

_ query auddddd error _

_ System Malfunction: Detecting Malware: Malware not found._

_ run system speakers!##*()_

_ query run system speakers!##*() is not definied_

_ import externalSystemInteractive_

_ Run speakerSystem_

_ Running speakerSystem. Input statement:_

_ please_

I.D 78934: "Who the _fuck_ was that?"

* * *

><p>The chamber is silent, and then a dim set of lights flood the room with an eerie green light. There are more tanks here, but they're empty of both the disease-ravaged bodies and the liquid in which they were suspended.<p>

Julian looks around, notice two aisles that go between the rows of machinery.

"Hello?" he calls out.

The mechanical voice speaks up again, louder and crackling with static: _System I.D DELILAH-7._

Julian glances toward Dust, whose eyes are crinkled at the corners in confusion.

"DELILAH, huh?" Julian says, "Are you the A.I?"

_Affirmative._

Right, so he supposes not every A.I can be as smart as Danger or JARVIS.

"Hey, uh, DELILAH-7? Can you tell us where we can find…uh, the main test subject?" Julian asks uncertainly.

There's no response, and then a soft crackling and: _please…. I'm here, I'm here…._

It's the same, soft voice from before, clearly a system different from DELILAH-7. It goes silent as Dust and Julian look up and around.

"Hello?" Dust says, "DELILAH-7?"

There's no once response one again, and then Julian hears the echo of footsteps from down the hall.

"Someone's coming," Julian whispers, tugging Dust to the side. They duck behind one of the tanks sticking out into the aisle just as the footsteps stop.

"System initiate conversation," they hear someone say, "DELILAH, begin protocol five-one-A, system shut down."

_System shut down commencing,_ DELILAH echoes mechanically. _Preparing data for deletion in three seconds… extracting all files… two minutes left…_

Julian springs into action, launching himself out into the aisle and taking the agent standing in the doorway of the room by surprise.

The man is knocked on his back by a blast of telekinetic force, and Julian flies forward, towering over the F.O.H guy and pushing him back down with a foot to the chest.

"Where is the body?" Julian growls.

The man groans, struggling feebly against Julian's hold. "Wh-what?"

"His body!" Julian says, "Where did you people put him? The mutant you stole," He presses down harder on the man's chest until he is wheezing and making noises of surrender.

"Where is he?" Julian asks again, kneeling down beside the man.

"Fuck you, mutie scum," he chokes out.

"Wrong answer," Julian snarls, punching him hard across the face.

The man's head snaps back and makes a loud cracking sound against the concrete ground.

"Hellion…" Dust says.

_Eighty seconds left…_

"Where is he?" Julian roars, clutching the front of the man's shirt, "You stole his body," Rage bubbles up inside him; he throws another punch, metal gauntlet crushing bones in the man's face; "You used him," He throws another punch.

"Julian!" Sooraya cries out.

_Sixty seconds left…_

DELILAH's mechanic voice momentarily brings Julian down from his rage. He drags the man to his feet. "DELILAH," Julian says, "Cancel protocol five one-A,"

The man laughs, "You can't override it. You can't use me."

"So I guess it won't make a difference if I pulverize your insides?" Julian says, narrowing his eyes. He puts a pressure against the man's abdomen. It's not against his insides –of course not; Julian doesn't know what goes on in there, but he knows his bluff won't be called.

The man's eyes widen, fear shooting across his face. There's something about the prospect of a painful death that does wonders. "I –I," the guy sputters. He gulps, Adam's apple bobbing visibly as Julian pushes down harder with the invisible force. "DELILAH," the man wheezes, "Cancel protocol five one-A –authorization code –ah –F-O-H-seven-eight-nine-three-four-Omega,"

_System shutdown canceling. Recall prepared files? _

"Yes," Julian growls.

"Yes," the man says.

Julian steps back, but between him and Sooraya, the guy doesn't exactly have anywhere to go. He's unarmed, clearly something like a scientist rather than a soldier.

"You do not have many choices," Sooraya says in the tone she gets when she's talking to someone she's trying not to completely hate. She's a good woman, Julian thinks –always maintains the hope of a peaceful resolution, but isn't naïve about how the world is. "In fact, you have one choice, and I hope you take it."

The man glares at Sooraya and then at Julian and back at her. She crosses her arms. "Tell us where the mutant known as Elixir is. You will be taken to court for crimes against humanity due to your association with this facility, but we can testify that you were willing to cooperate with us –_only_ if you agree to do as we ask without struggle."

The man stares at Sooraya for a moment and then spits on the ground. "Security protocol five-seven-V-eight-" he tries to get out.

He never does; Julian reaches out with an invisible limb, taking hold of the man and crushing his throat.

The man's face turns red and he clutches at his throat, eyes growing wide as he gasps for air.

Julian can feel his expression turn into something ugly and anger and impatience push his control over the edge. There's a crunch of bones being crushed and a dull thud as the man falls limply to the ground, dead.

Sooraya shrieks in shock. "Julian," she cries in dismay, "What have you done?"

"He was about to do the same," Julian says coldly. He glances around. "DELILAH," he says, "Which tank is closest to our location?"

There is no reply.

"DELILAH!" He tries again.

There's a crackling of static and then that small voice from before: _t-tank… t-wenty-niiiiiiine…_

"Which way do we go, DELILAH?" Julian asks.

Ahead of them, the green lights turn red, creating a path through a connecting room. Julian follows it without waiting for Sooraya, moving swiftly along the red-lit hall to a room not unlike the one he came from, with upright tanks lined back to back and along the walls to create two aisles.

The light stops in the next room, by two tanks; one contains a girl with wires running out of her head and the other, a man with six deformed arms.

"Where is he?" Julian says, turning on the spot. "DELILAH?"

_…please… i-i…_

"Julian." Sooraya's caught up with him by now, and she walks by him to inspect the tank with the girl with wires. "This is tank nine, Julian." She glances back at him. "I think this is Delilah."

He stops just as he's about to move on to another room because he hadn't even _considered_—

"DELILAH's an A.I." he says.

Sooraya has picked up a clipboard from beside tank nine. "Carter, Delilah," she reads. "She's a mutant."

Julian freezes, one part of him yearning to ignore all of this and tear up the bunker to find Elixir's body, but the other part –a more reasonable part –realizing that this is remarkable. "Is she alive?" he asks.

Sooraya raises a hand and presses it against the glass of the tank. "Is she?" she wonders.

* * *

><p>I.D 78934 and I.D 23746 display emotional responses of: Distress, wonder, confusion.<p>

I.D 78934: "Can we get her out?"

I.D 23746: "I don't know…"

_Unknown biosignatures detected, Corridor1._

_ Initializing dataBaseSearch._

_ Running dataBaseSearch._

_ Match not found._

_ No threat assessments available._

_ Try again? Y/N_

_ Assigning biosignatures I.D 79934, 24746, 88935, 54678, 99934, 94367_

_ Running Audio_Record_

_ Archiving * Security_Feed_

_Unable to detect I.D 94367_

I.D 54678: "Hellion? Dust?"

I.D 88935: "That way."

I.D [79934, 24746, 88935, 54678, 99934] proceed to Chamber9.

I.D 79934: "God, look at all this…"

I.D 24746: "Julian!"

I.D 99934: "Yo, who's that?"

I.D 23746: "Her name is Delilah. She's been calibrated as an A.I."

I.D 54678: "A technopath? Can we get her out safely?"

I.D 23746: "There is no way of knowing without… Julian?"

I.D 78934: "…go on, I'm just going to search the rest of this place. Check for more tanks…"

I.D 24746: "I'll go with you. Maybe there's more people alive."

I.D [23746, 79934, 88935, 54678, 99934] remain in Chamber9.

I.D 54678: "Alright. Rockslide, Anole –go meet up with Pixie. Pixie –status? …Alright. S.H.I.E.L.D's on its way, thanks. Let's wrap this up, guys."

I.D 78934 and 24746 proceed to Chamber 10.

I.D 78934: "Anyone noticeably alive?"

I.D 24746: "No… God, I might be sick, though."

I.D 78934: "Where the fuck did they put him, Cess?"

I.D 24746: "Have you considered that maybe… they didn't keep him?"

I.D 78934: "What's that supposed to mean?"

I.D 24746: "It's just… I don't mean to sound cold, but if they harvested a sample of his X-Gene, they wouldn't have need for his body. Cloning devices were extremely easy to find on the black market up until the S.H.I.E.L.D crackdown two years ago. Don't look at me like that –you know it could be possible. We might not find him here… No, listen, Julian. It stings me too that they took Josh's body, but"

I.D 78934: "-don't. Just don't."

I.D 24746: "Julian…"

I.D 78934: "No, I mean it. You don't get it. It's _my_ fault. I wouldn't let him have an open-casket funeral. I was a fucking coward."

I.D 24746: "You didn't want everyone to have to see him like that. That's not cowardly."

I.D 78934: "He –he was so afraid of going dark again."

I.D 24746: "I know, Julian. I know."

I.D 78934 and 24746 proceed to Chamber 12.

I.D 23746: "…And then he killed him."

I.D 54678: "But it was self-defense, right?"

I.D 23746: "It was not necessary. Noriko, I'm worried Julian is too close to this mission."

I.D 54678: "Well, we all are."

I.D 23746: "You didn't see the way he looked afterward. He didn't have a flicker of regret –it was –it was chilling."

I.D 88935: "It is unlike Julian to take human life without little decision. He has a consistently non-lethal technique of fighting, with the occasional intent to kill in particularly extreme settings… the last time Julian killed was nearly five years ago, in California when he and Josh first confronted members of the F.O.H with whom this chapter are connected."

I.D 54678: "Okay, so maybe he's a little closer to the mission than us."

I.D 23746: "Julian should be observed carefully, if this conflict continues after this mission."

I.D 88935: "I agree."

I.D 54678: "Fine, fine –oh, Pixie's brought the Blackbird around."

_ System bugs detected._

_ Resolve bugs? Y/N_

_ Running System_

_System Malfunction Detected: Detecting Malware: Malware not found._

_ File Error: "p-please—"_

_ File Error: "DELILAH PLEASE"_

_ Initiating speakers:_

_ Tank Fifteen. Chamber 17._

* * *

><p>Julian races ahead of Cessily, through the rooms until—<p>

And it's so anticlimactic, because Josh's body is just _there_.

Chamber Seventeen contains a single tank propped upright in the middle of the room amidst wires and tubes connecting to other machines.

Julian doesn't move forward consciously –doesn't even realize he's moved until he's standing in front of the tank and is reaching out to touch the glass.

Josh's skin is metallic black, hair white as always, and his mouth is downturned. He's suspended in a thick looking liquid, a mask over his mouth.

Julian stares at the mask for a long time. A mask. His eyes fall down to Josh's abdomen, searching for a bullet hole—

That's not there.

Distantly, Julian is aware that Cessily has entered the room and is saying something –is shaking his arm. Energy crackles in the air around them, bright green sparks of telekinetic forces snapping in and out of existence as Julian's thoughts run into jumbled strings of incoherency.

The glass of the tank cracks, a long line rune running down the front, almost from top to bottom.

"Julian, no!" Cessily shouts.

The tank shatters, pouring freezing cold liquid everywhere.

Josh's body falls out of suspension, lurching forward out of the perimeter of the tank and yanking tubes out of the inside wall.

Julian catches him and brings him gently to the ground. He checks for a pulse.

It occurs to him, as he feels the faint up and down rising of Josh's skin against the air, that Julian has exactly two grainy pictures of Josh, transferred over two cellphones. It almost physically hurts to see Josh now, body preserved to perfection.

"Christ," Cessily says somewhere out of Julian's line of vision. "Pix? Yeah, we'll need med evac for at least another person…"

Julian cradles Josh's head in his lap, running a gauntlet absently through his damp hair. "God," he murmurs, so low even Cessily can't hear, "What did they do to you?"

* * *

><p><em>49 Months Earlier…<em>

_Jean Grey School is built eerily similar to Xavier's._

_ Standing in front of the full-body mirror of his temporary room, Julian smoothens out the front of his suit and is reminded of this moment before every funeral he's ever been to –the moment before he leaves his room and has to fight to keep his expression neutral._

_ He stands out in the Memorial Garden before the service, leaning against Brian Cruz's headstone and blowing smoke out through his nose, a cigarette floating in the air beside him. _

_ He's been back at Jean Grey's for about three days and as X-Men from all over the country (and other countries) who knew Josh are arriving for the funeral, many are attempting in equal parts to console and tip-toe around Julian, and he is ignoring both._

_ Piotr had gotten farthest, despite the fact that Julian had only ever had him as a teacher for the occasional P.E class. There was something inexplicably knowing about the look Piotr had fixed Julian as he walked into the kitchen one midnight to find Julian already there. "Time may heal," Piotr had said, "But it cannot take away the scars."_

_ For the younger students at Jean Grey's, the sudden influx of X-Men they had never met but had heard of was both an exciting and intimidating experience. Many of the students are likely to show up at Josh's funeral out of respect; Julian's sure that the teachers have already given the kids the Talk –the one where they sit everyone down and explain the risks that X-Men take in fighting for the safety of the people._

_ For the most part, the kids will think Josh died in some heroic fashion. _

_ Julian feels just a little old when he realizes how young and naïve these kids are; they're twelve to sixteen year old newly manifested mutants at the moment, and none of them have ever seen battle. All they know is what the older students –the eighteen year old and twenty-something former Xavier's students –have told them._

_ Julian stares back toward the school, which is covered in tufts of white snow, and thinks: _This is what we should've had.

_ Because it's true, of course. _

_ Jean Grey's is as close to a manifestation of Xavier's dreams for mutant training and education as any place currently standing can get._

_ At one o'clock, people begin to make their way across the lawn, trudging through the snow toward the frost-covered garden. _

_ Cessily arrives and takes a place next to Julian; Laura falls into place on his other side, and she stands just close enough to be silently comforting and far enough to not be suffocating._

_ The service begins as Dr. McCoy and Logan carry the casket to the front of the crowd. It's a sleek black casket with the X-Man symbol carved into the wood of the lid and a bouquet of white and light blue flowers lying atop said lid._

_ There is no pastor, and Danielle is the first to speak, wrapped in a long black coat and brow furrowed. "Josh Foley came to us as a student four years ago…"_

_ Julian's mind drifts away from the eulogizing and he stares at the casket, at the snow reflected against its sides. _

_ It's a sunny winter afternoon, and light makes the fresh snow from the night before glisten where it hasn't been trampled by dozens of students and X-Men._

_ Cessily nudges Julian in the side and he blinks, returning to the present and realizing that all eyes are turned to him._

_ Right._

_ He clears his throat and makes his way to the front of the crowd. Julian glances over them: he sees David in the crowd, having driven down from Manhattan with the Young Avengers to pay his respects. Most of those from Utopia and Greymalkin have flown in, and X-Factor Investigations are even there, having arrived earlier that morning, apparently by the insistence of Rahne._

_ "I, uh," Julian clears his throat again._

_ Students stare at him expectantly, their only connection to the deceased through seeing him in old Xavier yearbook photos after someone took them out from the library so they could all figure out just exactly who had died._

_ "Uh, I met Josh the day he got to Xavier's. He was angry, back then –angry that he was being left there with a bunch of kids he didn't know." Julian says. "But we –we clicked, back then, two spoiled kids with parents that left us at a school we didn't want to be at. _

_ "Now, everyone knows, sooner or later, that Xavier's –Jean Grey's, I guess –becomes home, whether you wanted it to be or not. And that's what happened. I'm not gonna lie, and a lot of you know this, but Josh and I had a falling out over something that I judged him too harshly for. For most of high school, we hated each other."_

_ There's a loud snort from someone in the crowd that's followed by stifled giggles._

_ Julian feels himself smile a little. "But uh, even when we didn't get along, I knew Josh was a good guy. A good guy that I wanted to strangle sometimes, but a good guy, nonetheless. He defended and supported those who he was close to. The thing about Josh is" –Julian swallows, hard. "The thing about Josh was that he was earnest as fuck –sorry," he adds, glancing at the teachers of Jean Grey's. "He was an all or nothing sort of guy, and he had just this –this huge capacity for caring. I realized that, when we met in California a year or so ago. _

_ "Basically, shit's happened to him –pretty bad shit, too –and it brought him down at first, but he fought it. He didn't… bounce back, but he just kept going. I used to think, that he didn't think it would be to fair to everyone he loved and everyone who loved him to completely give up. So he never did, and I admired him for that. He was a good guy and I liked him. A lot."_

_ A soft murmur runs through the crowd as some people nod._

_ Julian steps back and later, when the crowd has dispersed and when Josh's casket is about to be lowered into the ground, Julian stops Logan and Hank. "Can I do it?" he says._

_ They exchange a look but Hank nods, "Of course,"_

_ The coffin rises in a glow of green energy and is floated to its spot in the cemetery near the Memorial Garden, where Julian carefully lowers it into the ground. _

_ "I'll bury him," Julian says, and Logan and Hank nod, turning to head back to the school._

_ Cessily comes to stand next to Julian, who ends up just staring at the coffin in the ground._

_ "It's starting to snow," she says softly. She sounds hoarse, like she' been crying. "Will you be alright out here?"_

_ Julian nods stiffly. The flowers on the casket are wilting from the cold._

_ "You should stay," Cessily says, "Just for a while, at least. Don't go back to Chicago just yet."_

_ "I'll think about it." Julian says with disinterest._

_ "It's not your fault," Cessily reminds him, perhaps for the hundredth time._

_ "Right," Julian says, but staring down into the pit that is ready to be covered over with dirt and labeled with a tombstone reading 'Joshua Foley', he can't help not believe her. Besides. He hasn't forgotten that he'd be the one to send the bullet Josh's way. He might as well have pulled the trigger._


End file.
